Peter and the Shadow Thieves (34 page)

A
N INHUMAN ROAR OF RAGE, like wind from a deep, cold cave, filed the night. The sound froze Slank and Nerezza, who stood at the end of the walk, having just seen the cab, and their prisoner, off to the ship. In a moment they were joined by Jarvis, Cadigan, and Hodge, who came running from their posts around the house.

They looked toward the source of the horrible sound and saw Ombra’s dark form leaning out the fourth-story window, an arm extended, pointing at something flying awkwardly, erratical y, overhead toward Kensington Gardens.

Slank squinted up at it, then cursed in fury.

The boy. The flying boy. And he had the girl.

“Stop them!” commanded Ombra, but al five men were already pursuing the ghostly figures now passing over the streetlight. The men ran across the street, only to be confronted by the high fence surrounding the mansion opposite the Asters’, its massive iron gate locked shut. Hodge, familiar with the neighborhood, led the others to the right and down an al eyway along the side of the mansion, into the park. By then the flying boy and girl were out of sight, having vanished over the roof. But Slank had not given up.

“He was fal ing!” he yel ed. “Did you see that? He was fal ing!”

Peter was, in fact, fal ing.

Mol y’s weight was proving too much for him; he couldn’t support her much longer. As they cleared the mansion roof he heard the shouts of the men coming around the side.

Clinging tight to Mol y, he strained desperately upward, but felt them descending, felt the dark ground below getting closer….

Mol y felt it, too.

“Peter…” she whispered helplessly.

“I know….”

Dul bel s sounded from beneath his shirt, where the weakened Tink clung to his col ar.

We’re falling.

“I know,” he repeated.

Do something. Drop the girl.

“No!”

“What?” Mol y said.

“Not you!” Peter said. He heard shouts from the right. He strained upward. Nothing.

More bel s.
You can’t fly with this cow holding you down.

“Be quiet!”

“What?” said Mol y.

“Nothing! I mean, not you!” The shouts were closer now.

Do I have to do everything myself
?

And with that, Tink, unseen by Mol y, darted out of the back of Peter’s col ar and flew into the night.

“This way! This way!”

Slank, now running in front, raced into the dew-soaked grass of Kensington Gardens. He stopped, the others stopping behind him. Their eyes searched the dark sky.

“They
can’t
have gotten far,” Slank said, frustration and rage choking his voice. “They were
sinking.
You saw that, didn’t you? He could barely fly.”

“There!” Hodge shouted, pointing.

The others fol owed his gaze, and saw it: a pale yel ow light flitting through the fog about twenty-five yards away.

“That’s them!” yel ed Slank, breaking into a run, the others on his heels.

Peter saw dark shapes directly ahead, closer and closer. Trees.

He and Mol y were too low; they were going to hit them.

“Hang on tight,” he whispered to Mol y. With his last ounce of strength, he made one more desperate effort to swoop upward. For a second or two, nothing happened. Then he felt it—felt them ascending, just the slightest bit.

But not quite enough.

Ombra stood silently in the shadow of a massive elm on the street in front of the Aster home, watching as the men returned. Their shoulders were slumped, their heads bowed; their hands empty. They had chased the mysterious phantom light halfway across Kensington Gardens, only to have it vanish. The boy and girl had escaped.

Now they trudged reluctantly toward Ombra, wondering—fearing—what the dark figure would do to them for having failed.

“My lord—” Nerezza began, only to be silenced by Ombra’s upraised arm.

“Silence,” said the groaning voice. “The girl took the envelope. We have her mother. Those are the important things. The girl wil find her father. The message wil be delivered.

Slank.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Find another cab.”

“As you wish, my lord.” Slank hurried off.

“You men,” Ombra said, addressing the three guards, “wil take up your positions here at the house. Jenna wil tel the rest of the staff that the lady and the girl were cal ed away in the night to join Lord Aster, and that they wil be gone for several days at least. The staff wil believe this; they are accustomed to the Asters’ mysterious ways. I doubt the girl would be fool enough to return here, but if she does, seize her and bring her to me immediately.”

The guards nodded.

“And the boy?” said Nerezza.

“Yes, the
boy,
” said Ombra, and now there was anger in his voice. “The boy and his bright little friend.” The dark hood turned toward Nerezza. Nerezza thought he saw two dim red circles in the deep blackness, like glowing coals; he felt Ombra’s stare, felt his face go cold as ice.

Ombra’s entire being seemed to swel , then subside; there was a rustling noise that sounded, to Nerezza, like the wing of a giant bat.

“You told me there was no stowaway on your ship,
Captain
Nerezza. But it seems you were wrong.” Nerezza tried to answer, but found he could not talk, could not move.

Ombra looked away, and suddenly Nerezza could move again.

“I very much look forward to meeting the boy again,” Ombra said, his voice once again calm. “I have…
plans
for the boy.” From the south, the sound of clopping hooves came up the street. Slank had found a cab. Ombra turned away, leaving Nerezza to rub his stil -cold face and to wonder what ugly fate this dark thing had in mind for the boy.

P
ETER AND MOLLY sat next to each other high in an oak tree on the west side of Kensington Palace, shoulders just touching, listening intently for sounds of the men searching for them.

They’d made a lucky landing on a wide limb and had managed, by grabbing nearby branches, not to topple off.

At first they’d sat tensely, listening to the searchers shouting nearby. But as the shouts faded into the distance, Peter and Mol y began to relax. They were quiet, yet intensely aware of each other’s presence. Final y Peter broke the silence with a whisper.

“Are you al right?”

“Thanks to you, yes,” whispered Mol y. “And you? You must be exhausted from flying us both.”

“I’m fine,” said Peter, though he was in fact very tired, and doubted that he could fly at al right then.

Well, I’m not fine,
said Tink, alighting on a branch behind Mol y.

“What was that?” said Mol y.

“Tinker Bel !” said Peter, happy to see her back.

“Who?” said Mol y.

“You met her once,” said Peter. He reached past Mol y and plucked Tink from the branch.

“Thanks, Tink,” he said.

Tink didn’t answer. She stood on Peter’s palm with her arms folded; her usual y golden glow had a reddish tinge, which told Peter that she was not in a good mood.

“Oh, my! Yes!” said Mol y, studying her. “I remember now—the little companion bird that Father gave you back on the island.” Tink, who did not at
all
care for the phrase “little companion bird,” made a discordant sound.

“Tink,” said Peter, blushing. “You don’t mean that.”

Yes I do.

“You can understand her?” said Mol y. She looked back and forth between Tink and Peter. “What’s she saying?”
Tell her she’s a big stupid cow who nearly got us killed.

“She says she’s delighted to see you again,” said Peter.

“And I’m delighted to see you,” said Mol y, extending the tip of her pinky toward Tink. Tink, keeping her tiny arms folded, turned haughtily around in Peter’s palm so she was facing away from Mol y.

“She’s shy,” said Peter.

“I see,” said Mol y doubtful y. Turning her attention back to Peter, she said, “Peter, I am so,
so
glad to see you.” Peter blushed again, grateful that the darkness hid his reddening face.

“I have so much to tel you,” Mol y went on. “Something dreadful is happening. These strange men have taken my mother, and my father is gone and I don’t know where he is, and the maid attacked me with a knife, and then that hideous dark
thing
back there was after me, and if you hadn’t shown up when you did, I—” Mol y stopped in midsentence, frowning. “But, Peter,” she said, “what
are
you doing here? I mean, I’m ever so glad that you came, but I thought you were going to stay on that island.”

“I was,” said Peter. “Until those men came.” He nodded in the direction of Mol y’s house. “Slank is one of them.” Mol y shuddered. “I
thought
I saw him. Father told me that men had come to the island looking for the starstuff.”

“How did he know that?”

“He got a message from Ammm,” said Mol y. Seeing Peter’s puzzled look, she added, “You remember Ammm, the porpoise.” Peter nodded. He remembered now. Quite wel , in fact, though it seemed like a very long time ago.

“They came to the island looking for starstuff,” he told her. “They kidnapped Fighting Prawn’s daughter and forced him to tel them that your father took the chest back to England. And I heard them say they planned to use
you
to make your father give it to them. So I decided I had to come to…to warn you.”

“But however did you get here?” Mol y said.

“On their ship,” said Peter.

“With
them
? But…how?”

“I hid in a folded sail.”

“In a sail? Al the way to England? Oh, Peter,” said Mol y, putting her hand on his arm—an act that made his entire body tingle—“that was
very
brave.”
He’d have starved
to
death without me,
noted Tink.

“What did she say?” said Mol y.

“She agrees with you,” said Peter.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” said Mol y. “But thank goodness you did! Had you not come…wel …that…that
thing
in my room was about to get me. He cal ed himself Lord…Lord…” Mol y frowned, trying to remember. “
Ombra,
that’s it. Lord Ombra.”

“He, or whatever it is, was on the ship, too,” said Peter. “And the island. There’s something very strange about that one.” Tink shivered.

“I know!” said Mol y. “What
is
he?”

“I don’t know,” said Peter. “But he comes out only at night. He seems to be afraid of light. You saw what happened to him when Tink made herself bright in your room.”
And nearly killed myself,
noted Tink, stil facing away from Mol y.

Mol y looked questioningly at Peter.

“She says it’s difficult for her, making such a bright light,” said Peter.

“Oh,” said Mol y. “Wel , thank you, Tinker Bel . Thank you both. If you hadn’t arrived when you did, I believe that Lord Ombra, whatever he is, was about to—this is going to sound odd, but—I believe he was trying to do something…to my…shadow.”

Peter nodded slowly. “I think you may be right. On the island, I saw him do something, but I couldn’t quite figure it out.” He described what he’d seen from the tree overlooking the Mol usk vil age, when the dark creature had seemed to suck Fighting Prawn’s shadow into him. Mol y, in turn, told Peter about the warning—
Beware the shadows
—that her parents had received from their friend in Egypt.

“So this Ombra, then,” said Peter, “is he one of the Others?”

“He must be,” said Mol y. “He said that they wouldn’t…they wouldn’t…”

Her words turned into sobs. Peter put his arm around her.

Tink made a sound that could be loosely translated as “Hmph.”

“He said,” Mol y continued, her voice quavering, “that he wouldn’t harm my mother if I gave this to my father.” She reached into the pocket of her dress and pul ed out the square white envelope.

Peter looked at it. “Should we open it?” he said.

“I don’t know,” said Mol y. “He definitely said I was to give it to my father. But I don’t know where my father is. When he found out that those men were coming, he said he had to move the starstuff.”

“Was it here?” said Peter. “In your house?”